Colonial-era Rouse's Tavern served drinks, drama in Ogden

Tuesday

Oct 29, 2013 at 8:28 AM

Q. Where exactly was Rouse's Tavern?

Q. Where exactly was Rouse's Tavern?A. It's hard to say exactly, according to Chris Fonvielle, associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.Accounts put it 8 miles outside Wilmington on the Old New Bern Road. U.S. 17/Market Street pretty much follows the path of the Old New Bern Road through New Han-<0x000A>over County, Fonvielle said, so that would put Rouse's Tavern somewhere in the modern-day Ogden community.Operated by Alexander Rouse, the tavern was a Colonial-era ordinary, serving as much as a roadside diner and a place to spend the night as a place to drink. Some people knew it as the Eight Mile House. The tavern was the site of a notable skirmish in the Revolutionary War in March 1781 while the British under Maj. James Craig were occupying Wilmington. (The exact date has been lost, Fonvielle said.)A group of Patriot militiamen under Maj. James Love had been rustling area cattle, to keep them from being seized by the British, and had been shooting sentries in an effort to lure redcoat detachments.The Patriots had stopped at the tavern and "caroused, drinking freely as men would do, who had lost their homes and are turned out on the bleak world," according to one period account. "(T)hey forgot the flight of time, and about half past 12 (midnight) they all betook themselves to rest on the floor of the dwelling, their saddles for pillows."Craig surrounded the tavern with 60 to 70 soldiers from the 82nd Regiment of Foot. Love tried to fight his way out, using his saddle as a shield, but was bayoneted to death. By some accounts, 11 Patriots were killed, another one or two were wounded, and another half-dozen were taken prisoner in mopping-up exercises later in the night.At least three Patriot veterans, however, submitted pension applications in the 1800s, testifying they had participated in the "Rouse's Tavern Massacre" or its aftermath.- Ben Steelman

Q. Could your answer about the Indochine building's age be wrong?A. The original question, published in this space on Oct. 9, was about the names of the restaurants that had occupied the building where Indochine is now.We said the building was built in 1963. That appears to be incorrect.In an earlier answer about the original business in that building, we reported: "The familiar structure at 7 Wayne Drive, Wilmington, just off Market Street, was listed as 'under construction' in the 1962 and 1963 Wilmington city directories."Bob Walton wrote us to say his wedding rehearsal dinner was held there on Dec. 28, 1962, so the restaurant was already open then. They were married the next day.MyReporter believes Walton because people certainly tend to remember dates like that. So we'll take his word for it that the restaurant was open before 1963.Thanks to Walton for writing, and congratulations to both Bob and Marty Walton on their upcoming 51st wedding anniversary.- Si Cantwell